(Seo alt ónár bhfoireann Gaeltachta. Is féidir an bunleagan as Gaeilge a léamh anseo)

A LONG-PROMISED NATIONAL planning statement for the Gaeltacht could be available before the end of this year, though it may form part of a broader statement on rural housing planning, Minister for the Gaeltacht Dara Calleary indicated during an interview on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta today.

Calleary was speaking on Adhmhaidin when he said he was putting “enormous pressure” on Minister for Housing James Browne to have the national planning statement for the Gaeltacht published as soon as possible. 

Under legislation passed in October of last year, it is national planning statements that will be issued rather than planning guidelines on specific areas. The different terms continue to be used interchangeably by politicians and campaigners. 

Considerable disappointment had been expressed last November when the strategy ‘Ag Tógáil Tithe, Ag Tógáil Pobail’ (Delivering Homes, Building Communities) stated that the guidelines would not be available until the first half of 2027.

“We are working on them, we are discussing them, there is a great deal of discussion underway between officials in my Department and officials in the Department of Housing,” he said, in response to a question from presenter Gormfhlaith Ní Thuairisg about whether a standalone national planning statement would be published or whether it would be included in the national rural planning statement due for publication this year.

“The news that came yesterday is that these two statements are to be published together – does that mean there will be just one statement on Gaeltacht planning and rural planning, or are we still expecting a standalone Gaeltacht planning statement?,” Ní Thuairisg asked the minister.

“That is the detail,” he replied. “At this point we are working on the statement and the important thing is what will be in that statement, what are the new guidelines for the Gaeltacht – when there is agreement between my Department and the Department of Housing on what is best for housing in the Gaeltacht, we will be able to focus in.”

The minister denied that there was disagreement between the two departments but said that “discussions and meetings are ongoing.”

Calleary’s comments came after Bánú said they had strong hope that a national planning statement for the Gaeltacht would be published before the end of the year. That was contained in a statement they issued following Browne’s own statement that the Gaeltacht national planning statement would be published before the end of the year.

In the statement issued by Browne, after he had been canvassing for votes for Fianna Fáil’s byelection candidate Cillian Keane, he said it was important to support local people to remain living in the Gaeltacht.

“It is important for Cillian and important for Fianna Fáil as well – we will be issuing the rural planning guidelines and the Gaeltacht guidelines this year,” he said.

“We are working extremely hard to make it easier for people to live and work in their own local communities and the Gaeltacht is one of the most important aspects of that.”

The candidate indicated that housing was one of the biggest issues being raised with him as he went door to door in the constituency with the largest Gaeltacht in the country this week.

“The Gaeltacht planning guidelines are an important priority for people in the constituency as they are central to young people and families who want to continue living within their own communities.”

Donncha Ó hÉallaithe, spokesperson for Bánú, said in a statement from the organisation that the Gaeltacht planning guidelines had been promised on many occasions before, but that “the Department of Housing had failed on every occasion to meet the deadlines that were given.”

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“Bánú hopes that the Department of Housing will issue clear guidelines before the end of the year to the planning authorities that have Gaeltacht areas under their remit, regarding the preservation and strengthening of Irish as a community language in the Gaeltacht, and that it will be easier in future for Irish speakers to obtain planning permission in Gaeltacht areas where the language is widely in use.”

He said that county councils had guidelines on birds and trees but had no guidelines whatsoever on Gaeltacht areas, and that it would be important for the national planning statement for the Gaeltacht to deal directly with questions specific to the Gaeltacht and not be subsumed into the national planning statement for rural areas.

He explained that a commitment regarding the guidelines had been given as far back as 2021, and that after Bánú was established in November 2023, they met with then housing minister Darragh O’Brien who told them the guidelines were ready and would be published by Easter 2024.

That deadline was not met, nor was the subsequent one given at the time that they would be ready by Whit Sunday.

“It is not necessarily the case that we would be satisfied with them, that is a separate matter, they could be inadequate, and we would hope there would be an opportunity for consultation so that, in the event that people were not satisfied with them, they would be in a position to convey that to the Department.”

When the National Housing Strategy was published last November, The Journal highlighted that the document stated that a national planning statement for the Gaeltacht was to be published in the first half of 2027.

The Journal’s Gaeltacht initiative is supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.

This article was originally written in the reporter’s native Irish and has been translated to English here. AI was used as part of the translation process before final edits.